


A friend saved, a situation averted, a proposal made

by Aragorn_II_Elessar



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 04, Alternate Season/Series 07, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cordelia Chase Lives, Episode: s04e15 Orpheus, Episode: s07e19 Empty Places, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Post-Episode: s07e22 Chosen, Post-Season/Series 07 Finale, Post-Season/Series Finale, Romance, Tara Maclay Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29159169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragorn_II_Elessar/pseuds/Aragorn_II_Elessar
Summary: A little AU where Tara survives and helps out in Angel Season 4 and Buffy Season 7. 200th fic special.
Relationships: Angel (BtVS)/Cordelia Chase, Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	A friend saved, a situation averted, a proposal made

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
> 
> So this, people, is going to be my 200th fic. Originally, I was gonna do an Avengers/Buffy one-shot with a Steve/Buffy pairing, then I decided to do a Buffy/Devil May Cry one-shot instead which would be a sequel to my previous one, and it would involve Dante preventing the mess of Season 6.
> 
> Then I got another idea, which is that I am going to write a little AU where the 2 Buffyverse deaths I can never get over- Tara and Cordelia, never happen.
> 
> So in this, the bullet didn't hit Tara's heart directly, so she went into a coma, and Dark Willow still happened, but she was stopped like in canon, and Tara woke up by the time Willow returned from London, and she forgave Willow and they got back together too.
> 
> Also, I have had a bombshell dropped on me today, so I think for the next few months, I'll only really be able to post one-shots and the like, and update my two fics that I already am writing, those being 'The path to redemption' and 'A Devil in the City of Angels', and no new story will be started till then, sorry if that disappoints people, but I have myself to take care of too, you know?
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, let's do this.

LA, Hyperion Hotel

"You're lying to yourselves!" Connor snapped at the rest of Team Angel. "You all think that I'm taking this personally so that you don't have to, but inside you know I'm right. We need to put Angelus down."

"I don't think so."

Everyone turned to see Willow and Tara standing in the lobby.

"I think you need witches", Tara completed what her girlfriend was going to say.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Willow asked.

"Willow", Wesley greeted before turning to Tara. "You must be Tara."

"Yes, that's me", Tara nodded with a smile.

"They're witches?" Connor asked.

"Yes. Hi. You must be Angel's handsome, yet androgynous, son", Willow said to Connor.

"It's Connor", he said.

Willow nodded. "And the sneer's genetic. Who knew?"

"Hi Willow", Fred greeted before extending her hand to Tara. "Nice to meet you, I'm Fred."

"Nice to meet you too", Tara said, shaking her hand.

Willow walked up to Fred. "Hey Fred. It's good to see you." She looked at Wesley. "Oh, and it's the Marlboro Man. Or at least his extra stubbly, mentally unstable, insomniac, first cousin of—for the love of Hecate, somebody stop me."

"It's OK. I'm a yammerer from way back", Fred assured.

"We're all yammerers here", Tara smirked.

"Are there forces gathering? Did the call of magic draw you two here?" Wesley asked them.

"Oh, no. More like the call of Fred", Willow and Fred chuckled.

Wesley nodded. "Of course. Bring in the only living person to ever re-ensoul Angel, with another powerful witch to aid her."

"She has a fresh brain. I thought she might see some things we missed, and I'm sure Tara will too", Fred said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence", Tara told her.

"And hearing the thoroughness of your research methodology", Willow smiled at Fred. "I don't think that's possible."

"Aw. Go on", Fred giggled.

"We should probably start the debriefing. Where's Cordy?" Willow asked.

"Unfortunately, the guy you're all trying to magically re-ensoul shot her with a crossbow. She's not up for visitors", Connor said glumly.

"I think she'll want to see Willow. After all, she's travelled a long way, and they have a history together", Wesley said.

"Yeah, very interesting one too", Tara said, remembering what Willow had told her of Cordelia.

* * *

Later

After meeting Cordelia, Willow walked out of the room, closing the door as she saw Tara standing there, a grim expression on her face.

"What's the matter, honey?" Willow asked her gently, knowing she made that face only when something was really wrong.

"I felt her aura, there's something wrong with it", Tara told Willow in a whisper.

"Like what?" Willow asked.

"Her aura is weak, almost fading, and there is another aura covering it, a darker one, snuffing hers out", Tara whispered to her. "I think whatever that is inside, it's not Cordy."

The two exchanged a grim look as Willow said. "First, let's return Angel's soul, then we'll see what to do about this."

"Yes, one thing at a time", Tara agreed with a nod.

* * *

Later

Angel and Faith had finished talking after his soul had been restored when they saw Willow and Tara approach them.

"Willow, hey, thank you so much for what you did for me", Angel smiled as the two hugged.

"Aww, its no worries", Willow assured him as she stroked his back.

"You must be Tara", Angel said and she nodded. "Thank you to you as well, now umm, should we hug-"

"Yeah, I mean, we don't really know each oth-" Tara trailed off, the two chuckling.

"Huh, who would have thought you two were alike?" Willow said as the two shared a smile, and Angel and Tara did end up hugging.

When they parted, Tara's expression turned grim. "Look, there's something I want to tell you."

"What?" Angel asked, sensing this was important.

"See, I can read people's auras, and I read Cordelia's, her aura is weak and fading, and I felt another powerful but evil aura in its place, its taking over her slowly", Tara informed him as Angel's face scrunched in realization.

It all added up now, sleeping with his own son, Lilah being dead when he had found her, the Beast's master not showing itself.

It was all Cordelia! Or whatever was possessing her.

"Can you two do something about it?" Angel asked in an almost begging tone.

"We can, we just wanted to tell you first", Willow said and he nodded.

* * *

Few minutes later

'Cordelia' was sitting on her bed and the door opened as Angel and Willow walked in.

"So you're back", 'Cordelia' noted, looking him up and down, and then smiled. "God, I am so happy to see you."

"Yeah, I know", Angel said as they hugged each other. "I will be happy too…..once the real Cordelia returns."

'Cordelia's' face scrunched up in horror as Willow suddenly grasped her head by both sides and closing her eyes, chanted something, her hands glowing with powerful energy as 'Cordelia' screamed in pain, while Angel let go.

Tara came in too, chanting something as the rest of the gang watched from the door. 'Cordelia' started chanting something too in between her screams, trying to counter whatever was going on, and then there was a shockwave explosion.

* * *

Willow and Tara found themselves in a dark place, and saw a dark-skinned woman glaring at them in a rage.

"I was so close!" She snapped in a rage. "So close! Then you two had to come in and ruin it!"

"You violated my friend, I don't like it when people mess with my friends", Willow said in a tone that would have made one think she is Dark Willow now. And yes, she was referring to herself when she was in her magic-addict phase as well, she hated herself for what she had done to Tara.

"You think you can defeat me, little girl? You may have power, but I have conquered a world, and this one shall fall to me too!" The woman said as her hands glowed with dark power.

"If you are so powerful, why are you manipulating the scenes from behind?" Tara asked her as she glared at her. "You clearly needed Cordelia to house yourself, you cannot access your full power unless you are out."

"You wish to test me?" The woman asked as she called down a lightning bolt on the two witches but they raised magical shields to defend themselves, gritting their teeth. Even weakened, this entity was powerful.

Tara then chanted and an enchanted stream of energy shot out at the entity, who staggered back, gritting her teeth too, trying to hold against her before she fired an energy stream back, but Willow fired her own to aid Tara, and now they were basically in an energy struggle.

The entity was powerful, but like Tara had said, inside Cordelia, its power was less, and so the two powerful witches eventually overpowered the entity, destroying it once and for all.

* * *

Willow and Tara found themselves back in the hotel, staggering back as Angel and Faith supported them respectively, and the gang noted that Cordelia was unconscious, but the baby bump was gone, and color was returning to her skin.

"Cordy!" Angel said as he rushed to her, checking for a pulse, which was there, though she wasn't waking up.

"Her aura is weak, but its there, its stable now", Tara told him.

"Thank you", Angel said with almost a lump in his voice as he got up. "Thank you."

Connor then stormed off, clearly angry.

"Sorry about that", Tara said.

"I'll handle it", Angel assured her.

* * *

Few weeks later, Sunnydale

Tara was sighing internally at the argument that was going on, with Buffy refusing to listen to the rest, but they were all ganging up on her too.

"With everything that's happened, I'm worried about your judgment", Willow popped up to Buffy, with a shrug.

"Look, I wish this could be a democracy. I really do. Democracies don't win battles", Buffy said as Xander looked away. "It's a hard truth, but there has to be a single voice. You need someone to issue orders and be reckless sometimes and not take your feelings into account. You need someone to lead you."

"And it's automatically you", Anya calmly looked at Buffy. "You really do think you're better than we are."

"No, I—"

"But we don't know. We don't know if you're actually better. I mean, you came into the world with certain advantages, sure. I mean, that's the legacy", Anya accused.

"I—"

"But you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You've never had anybody come up to you and say you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to you. So that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us", Anya accused.

"I've gotten us this far", Buffy argued.

"But not without a price", Xander now said.

"Xander—"

"I'm trying to see your point here, Buff... but I guess it must be a little bit to my left... " he shook his head, "'cause I just don't."

"Look, I'm willing to talk strategy, OK, I'll hear suggestions on how to break this down, but this is the plan. We have to be together on this or we will fail again", Buffy said.

"We are clearly demonstrating that we are not together on this!" Giles snapped.

Buffy was now commanding. "Which is why you have to fall in line! I'm still in charge here."

"Then behave like it", Tara now popped up, deciding this was going too far now, as Buffy looked at her. "Because you're not."

"What are you trying to say?" Buffy asked, folding her arms.

"You are expecting everyone to follow you blindly because you have a hunch, after what just happened, you really think they are going to?" Tara pointed out.

"It may not be one!" Buffy snapped.

"And what if it is?" Tara asked. "I am not going to attack you like Anya here just did", Anya glared at Tara but she wasn't affected. "I am trying to help you, you know that, right?"

In that moment, Buffy remembered when she had cried at Tara's lap over her toxic relationship with Spike, and Tara hadn't judged her, only tried to help. She did have a point there.

"Look guys, Buffy is making a wrong decision here, so yeah, we should call her on it, but ganging up on her like this is only going to make it worse, and constructive criticism will be lost in between these personal attacks", Tara said, shooting Anya a glare who looked away.

"Yeah, Tara is right here, I think B here needs to just...chill out for a little bit, take a siesta or something", Faith agreed.

"What's it gonna be, Buff?" Xander asked, looking at her.

Buffy thought about it. Tara's reasonable explanation and calling out of both sides had made her realize she was being reckless about this.

"How about me, and one or two more of us scout the area to find out something, it's gonna be a stealth mission, if there is something, we will get it", Buffy now said, clearing her head a little.

"That works for me", Faith said with a nod and shrug, and like that, this situation was diffused.

* * *

A week later, LA, Hyperion Hotel

Sunnydale had been destroyed and was a crater now, and the Scooby Gang had stopped at Hyperion to regroup before going to London.

"Well, never thought that would happen", Willow said as she and Tara sat together in their room. "I mean, Sunnydale a crater? Whoa!"

"Yeah, things change really fast, don't they?" Tara said with a smile.

"Yeah, they do", Willow nodded. "Speaking of-"

She looked Tara right in the eyes. "About one year ago, I almost lost you, and I couldn't take it, I did horrible things, but you still forgave me for it, because you are one hell of a woman, Tara, you are someone to meet once in a lifetime, and I am lucky that I met people like you twice, first Oz, and now you. After him, I never thought I could love again, but I did, and I have no idea why I waited so long, now that even Sunnydale is gone, I can't."

Tara's breath was caught in her lungs as Willow opened a box to reveal an engagement ring. "Tara Maclay, will you marry me?"

Tara smiled, a happy tear falling out of her eye, nodding.

"Yes?" Willow asked, a happy tear in her eye too.

"Yes", Tara nodded as she held out her hand, and Willow put the ring on her, the two kissing each other passionately and lovingly, giving in to their passion and emotions.

* * *

Same time, hospital

"I know you will give me a lecture over what I did, but I had to, Cordy, for Connor, I had to", Angel said, almost breaking down as he looked over her with tears in his eyes. "I know only you can tell me the right thing to do."

He then got up, starting to walk off, when he suddenly saw her face twitch a little, and froze, as she started breathing, and then her eyes shot open. "Angel!"

"Cordy!" Angel said, getting on his knees, hugging her tightly, never wanting to let go, as she hugged him back, and he kissed her head. "Cordy!"

"I…..I felt it all…" Cordelia said with tears in her eyes. "She…..was inside…she made me…."

"I know, and I am sorry I couldn't help you in time", Angel said, hugging her again as she cried into his shoulder and he comforted her. It would take a lot of time but he would be with her every step of the way.

**Author's Note:**

> And we're done.
> 
> So Tillow and Cangel both get a happy ending here, and let's just say Cordelia not being pregnant anymore still drove Connor over the edge, and W&H was gone anyway so the deal was still made, etc.
> 
> The scene in 7x19, I think Buffy was being unreasonable, but the way the others ganged up on her, especially Anya's speech, still ticked me off, and so with Tara I decided to fix it.
> 
> Anyway, this was my 200th fic, and I hope you all loved it. I love you all for sure.
> 
> So hope all enjoyed, and see you all next time with some other update. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!


End file.
